Cara Spencer to run for St. Louis mayor. ‘The city is failing to do its most basic jobs.’ (2024)

ST. LOUIS — Alderwoman Cara Spencer said Thursday she is running for mayor, setting up a rematch with the incumbent, Tishaura O. Jones, next year.

Spencer, who represents parts of downtown, Soulard and the near southeast side, announced her decision in an email to supporters Thursday morning blasting the status quo.

“Everywhere we look, the city is failing to do its most basic jobs,” she wrote in the email. “Too many of the promises that were made three years ago haven’t been fulfilled. That’s why, after much encouragement, I have decided to run for mayor.”

Jones acknowledged the news on Instagram, posting a screenshot of Spencer’s announcement and writing, “It’s official! I have an opponent!” Later, in an interview, she called Spencer’s remarks “cute.”

Rosetta Okohson, Jones’ campaign manager, told the Post-Dispatch the mayor is looking forward “to continuing to make this campaign about the voters, and continuing to make St. Louis safer, healthier and stronger.”

In an interview, Spencer said, as mayor, she would make the city safer, get the basics right, and work to reverse the city’s population decline.

She acknowledged recent decreases in crime statistics Jones touted in her reelection announcement last week. Police reported the fewest homicides in a decade in 2023. Car thefts and shootings, including juvenile shootings, fell significantly, too.

“That’s great,” Spencer said. “But the people I talk to in our neighborhoods don’t feel safer.”

Reckless driving, she said, is out of control, and the city needs to do more about it.

After one of the most deadly years on the streets in recent memory in 2022, Jones and aldermen appropriated tens of millions of dollars to repave and remake city streets to make them safer. But construction isn’t expected to begin in earnest until next year.

Spencer said she would start on the problem by fully staffing the police department to increase enforcement of traffic laws. Police have been increasing citations after a decline over the past decade: They issued 32,614 citations in 2023, the most since 2009.

Spencer said the city’s mayor must fight that by working to build back trust between police and the community.

She said she’ll also work with the goal of reversing decades of population decline. The latest census estimates have St. Louis’ population at 281,754, a 6.6% drop from 2020.

The city can’t accept that, she said. Population loss means a smaller tax base, which means less money for city services.

“These things should be alarm bells for all of us,” she said.

Spencer also disputed Jones’ comments last week describing St. Louis as a city “in the middle of a renaissance.”

“We have a lot of challenges,” she said, “and putting our heads in the sand is no way to address these issues.”

Spencer is planning a campaign kickoff party on June 4 at the old Post-Dispatch building on Tucker Boulevard downtown.

She previously ran for mayor four years ago, when she lost to Jones 52%-48%.